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Showing results for tags 'white tower'.
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I hope this is the right forum to post this to, but based on the titles, I think this is where the people with the appropriate skills in modding (making skyscrapers and other "ploppable buildings" hang out). I am currently trying to reproduce the city of Tar Valon, from the Wheel of Time novel series. I have talked about it in several posts to the players forum. This post describes more or less what I am doing: This post describes what I am currently doing for the "White Tower," the main architectural feature of Tar Valon: As can be seen, what I am doing for the white tower is using the Palacio Real from the landmarks menu for the central civic building, then a bunch of copies of Fanneuil Hall for the novice/apprentice/ajah quarters. To make a "real" white tower that looks like the art shown in the above link, I decided I could 1 of several things: Try to find if it had already been done somewhere. I did not find it on the usual places (here, simcity4devotion), and could not even find any other repositories of SC4 mods. Find another castleor building that looks like the white tower, and I found a few castles and tons of skyscrapers, but not really any that looked right. Download a 3d drawing program (gmax or whatever) and give a stab at it myself. Come to the appropriate forum (this one, I hope) and see if I can talk anyone into making one. I decided to try option number 4 (see if somebody that knows how to use GMAX or whatever 3D drawing program is appropriate can do it), before I tried option 3 of doing it myself. I also thought that perhaps someone who is familiar with modding and stuff like that could do a better job of reproducing this fictional city that I could ever hope to, so I guess that is my challenge to anyone who knows this stuff better than I, unless there has already been a "fictional city" challenge already, with results I could take a look at. Brian Christiansen
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My tar valon region currently looks like this: The bridge (just under the camera icon) is a test bridge to see if I could make a diagonal bridge. The "real" bridge will probably be quite a bit south of there. I have most of the walls placed (in my original description, I said I was using the "AD 1100 castle wall set," but I think I am using a different castle wall set), I have that one small area that has the "test bridge" to still put them in. The small compound that is closish to the center of the map is what I am currently using as the "White Tower". Here is a closeup of it: This is fan art of the "real" White Tower: I looked here and at SC4devotion, and I think I found a few "castles," but none that really looked right to me. So, what I am doing is using the Palacio Real as the central civic building, and surrounding it by several Faneuil Halls to serve as the quarters for the Ajahs (blue, red, white, green, brown, yellow, and grey). The 8th copy is the novice/accepted quarters. I then "decorated" it a bit with some medium flower gardens and some trees. This does not really look like the way it is described in the Wheel of Time series or how any of the fan art, but for now it is the best I can find. To "fix" it, I can do one of the following: Leave it alone, and use what I have. Go to one of the builders forums, though I am not sure which one, perhaps the modding forum(?) and ask if anyone knows of another building repository other than the STEX or sc4dvotion that has it or at least might have it. Go to one of the building forums and see if I can talk any one into making one. Download some sort of 3D drawing program and try making it myself. I think blender saves to the needed format, and it seems to have the most tutorials in how to make/texture a building. My computer is probably not really powerful enough for 3D animation, but I think it is powerful enough for 3D drawing. I am also considering going to one of the building forums, though I am not sure which one would be best, and issuing a "fictional city building challenge." I think the challenge would consist of the following: Making a map of the area, such as the area of Tar Valon that I made. It would have rivers, whatever features are described in the book or whatever fictional work describes this area. If there is an actual map in the book or whatever, that can be used. If there is a "fan art" map somewhere on the internet, that can be used as well. Put any "landmarks" that are described, such as the White Tower (or as in my current case, the best approximation you can muster). Use, if possible, appropriate looking housing/farming zoning. For example, in my attempted reproduction of Tar Valon, modern housing/farms would not look right, and the houses/farms seem to be more medieval in design. I have not quite figured out how to do that yet because I have not yet completed putting in the walls and roads, but I have some ideas about that. If it is a work of ficition that is set in modern times, then modern looking buildings would be appropriate Some options might be: Tar Valon, like I am currently attempting; Ba Sing Se from Avatar the Last Airbender; perhaps some thing from The Lord of the Rings; etc. I am pretty sure an experienced SC4 builder modder can probably do a better job than I am doing. Perhaps such a challenge already has been issued at some point (after all SC4 is a 15-year old game), but I thought this just might be an interesting thing to try. Brian Christiansen
